Saturday, February 10, 2007

Got Work Ethic

Remember elementary school where you got kudos for perfect attendance? There were some kids who went 3-5 years without missing a day. I remember my 2nd grade teacher never missed a day of school for 4 years. Amazing consistency and dedication to her job.

My parents have an amazing work ethic. My mother worked her way up from the fabrication line at a semiconductor company to upper management within 10 years. Before my mother returned to work, my father worked two jobs to make ends meet and was still working 2 jobs in his 50s'. They instilled a similar work ethic in me. Sometimes it is to my detriment, but it has been more good than not.

That said, I have decided to do the landscaping on my own. This after 8 months of dealing with the local landscaping companies that do not call back, do not show, and do not follow thru. They all talk a good game, tell you how much they know, kick down some knowledge but then they do not follow thru.
Here is the list of landscaping companies who failed to either call back, show up, or follow up after the initial meeting:

  • R&S Landscaping
  • Elements Landscaping
  • C&C Landscaping
  • AAA Landscaping
  • John Flanigan Landscaping
  • Cumbria Construction

In the event that I would get a bid, it would be so generic that I could not tell the scope of work, would be rife with misspellings and if you can believe it, there would be simple mathematical errors in square footage/material costs. My two favorite interactions have been:
  • The initial $18k bid that morphed into a $36k bid when I asked the person to come back with a lower cost proposal.
  • The father of one 'contractor' who tells me his son went to the snow and will get back to me and the other 'contractor' who calls to tell me he is going to the snow and does not have access to the bid to discuss the inaccuracies.
Remember, Paso is Darn Near Paradise!

6 comments:

CrimsonCannonball said...

Hello There, just poking around the internet looking for good pictures of straw bales, and I came across your blog. I have always been fascinated by the construction in this manner, and I LOVE thick walls....so it works nicely. I would love to actually see the site sometime.

Anyways, none of this is why I am posting. I am a graphic designer and web developer, and I recently did work for a landscaping company, and got to go over the comapnyu extensive profile to put together his gallery (www.jktubb.net), and I would like to send you his direction. He does beautiful work, works hard, and is a decent, honest, hard working business owner you can trust not to run off to play in the snow. Just thought I would point you that direction. :D

Jason Brink
www.jasons-professional-graphics.com

Oberon said...

.....what is the most important thing?

CoralPoetry said...

I have bookmarked your interesting blog. I watched a programme that Bob Vila presented on Discovery Channel about these hayrick houses.

Doesn’t the idea originate with the adobe houses that the Native Americans invented?

http://www.fotosearch.com/UNU118/u13626297/


“When this project started to have issues, I started a conversation with myself. This conversation allows me to turn the many events over in my mind and hopefully learn from them. Blogging has allowed me to articulate the negative thoughts, feelings, and frustration associated in dealing with contractors in general and Three Little Pigs Construction in particular.”

I also started a rant blog to accompany my regular poetry blog but I found that I have very little to rant about; it has served its purpose and I can continue to count my blessings instead of my woes.

Anonymous said...

"Tachando el calendario"

Anonymous said...

It is interesting that when you have brilliant ideas that this contractors are intimidated with they choose to dodge you at all costs!!!

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